In motion compensated, prediction based video coding schemes, quality of reference pictures used for the video coding schemes can considerably affect coding efficiency. That is, a higher quality reference picture that is also more correlated with a source picture generally results in improved coding advantage. Coding advantage includes such factors as improved coding efficiency, reduced complexity, and easier parallelization.
FIG. 1 shows an implementation of a conventional video coding system. In conventional video coding systems such as the conventional video coding system shown in FIG. 1, reference pictures are retrieved from a reference picture buffer (100), generally without any additional processing applied to the reference pictures. The reference pictures are generally used for prediction of subsequent pictures.
Lack of any additional processing occurs in many coding scenarios. Such coding scenarios include coding for static video sequences or for sequences moving with a consistent, translational motion. However, improved coding advantage can be achieved by pre-processing the reference pictures before using them for prediction of the subsequent pictures. A scenario for which pre-processing is used is that of stereo or multi-point video coding applications, where certain views/layers are utilized in predicting other views/layers and where the other views/layers may be captured at different angles from one another.
The following cases are incorporated herein by reference: International Patent Application No. PCT/US2010/031762 filed 20 Apr. 2010 (International Publication No. WO/2010/123909 published 28 Oct. 2010); International Patent Application No. PCT/US2010/040545 filed 30 Jun. 2010 (International Publication No. WO/2011/005624 published 13 Jan. 2011); International Patent Application No. PCT/US2011/020163 filed 5 Jan. 2011 (not yet published).